[Sci-tech-public] March 12: Manuel Castells speaks at STS Colloquium; schedule of events: March 12-16, 2007

[Debbie Meinbresse]

Communication Technology, Media, and Power
Manuel Castells
Science, Technology, and Society, Media Arts and Sciences, Urban 
Studies and Planning, MIT (Visiting)

Professor Castells will be give an STS Colloquium at MIT on Monday, 
March 12th, at 4:00 pm in the Bartos Theater (lower level of Building 
E15).  Before his talk, we will hold a  reception from 3:30-4:00 in 
the atrium area outside of Bartos.  I hope you will be able to join 
us at Monday's colloquium.  Please pass information about Professor 
Castells' talk along to your colleagues and students.

ABSTRACT
Power has always been decided in the realm of communication. In our 
societies, politics is largely media politics. Communication evolves 
according to the evolution of communication technology. 
Internet-based communication and wireless networks have allowed the 
emergence of self mass communication, that is mass communication that 
is originated by social actors or individuals without mediation of 
governments or corporate media. Under these conditions social 
movements and insurgent politics enhance their capability to 
intervene in the new communication space. On the other hand, 
corporate media are also increasing their presence in the horizontal 
networks of communication.  As a result of these trends, mass media 
and horizontal networks of communication are converging. Thus, we are 
witnessing a historical shift of societys public sphere from the 
institutional realm to the communication space. This analysis is 
based on a number of case studies, data analysis and literature 
review, some of which are included in my recent book "Mobile 
Communication and Society," MIT Press 2006.

BIO
Manuel Castells is the Marvin C. (1951) and Joanne Grossman 
Distinguished Visiting Professor of Technology and Society at MIT, 
and Professor of Communication and the holder of the Wallis Annenberg 
Chair in Communication Technology and Society at the Annenberg School 
for Communication, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He 
is, as well, Research Professor at the Open University of Catalonia 
in Barcelona, and Professor Emeritus of Sociology and of City and 
Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley. He holds 
courtesy appointments as Professor of Sociology in the USC Sociology 
Department and as Professor of Planning in the USC School of Policy, 
Planning, and Development.

He is the author of 23 books and editor or co-author of 15 additional 
books, as well as over 100 articles in academic journals. His trilogy 
The Information Age: Economy, Society, and Culture was published by 
Blackwell in 1996-98 in the first edition and in 2000-2003 in its 
second edition. His most recent books are The Internet Galaxy (Oxford 
University Press, 2001), The Information Society and the Welfare 
State: The Finnish Model (Oxford University Press, 2002, with Pekka 
Himanen), La societat xarxa a Catalunya (Mondadori, 2003, co-author), 
The Network Society: A Cross-Cultural Perspective (Northampton, MA: 
Edward Elgar, 2004, editor and co-author), Globalizacion, Desarrollo 
y Democracia: Chile en el Contexto Mundial (Santiago: Fondo de 
Cultura Economica, 2005), and Mobile Communication and Society: A 
Global Perspective (MIT Press, 2007, co-author).

Talk location: 
http://whereis.mit.edu/map-jpg?zoom=level2&centerx=711279&centery=496140&oldzoom=level3&map.x=306&map.y=187

------------------------------------------------
If you have any questions about Monday's colloquium, please contact 
me at 452-2390. Thank you.

A schedule of events for the week of March 12th is attached.  Please 
remember to check the MIT on-line calendar 
(http://web.mit.edu/events) for a complete listing of MIT activities.

Debbie Meinbresse
STS Program, MIT
617-452-2390
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